Withstand a magnitude 10 earthquake? Why can't today's technology be copied from 7000 years of black technology?

Carpenters in The UK can't understand why the Chinese never fear that the Forbidden City, which has endured more than 200 devastating earthquakes over a period of more than 600 years, will collapse.
Including the devastating earthquake that leveled Tangshan, 150 kilometers from the Forbidden City, which damaged many of Beijing's ancient buildings but remained untouched. Such ancient buildings as the Forbidden City, in the end gathered the efforts and wisdom of ancient people, and hidden what we can not solve the modern black technology?

Ancient Chinese buildings that can withstand a magnitude 10 earthquake
To get to the bottom of these questions, in 2017, carpenters in the UK built several mock-ups of the Forbidden City's structure at a scale of 1:5. They then placed the mock-ups on a platform to test how strong an earthquake would be.
Workers first raised the quake's magnitude to 4.5, a tremor that can be felt enough to crack the walls of simple buildings or even collapse. The model of the Forbidden City, on the other hand, swayed greatly and seemed to be on the edge of collapse. However, during the 30-second test, it never collapsed.

The model of the Forbidden City shook so strongly that foreign experts believed it would not survive the magnitude 6 earthquake before falling apart completely, while the Chinese experts at the scene smiled at each other and did not speak.
When field workers did adjust the magnitude to 6, foreign experts were surprised to find that the model shook almost as much as before, but there was still no sign of collapse.
It was then scaled up to 7.5, which is the amplitude of many large earthquakes. I saw that the Palace Museum model had a violent shaking, the internal walls also collapsed, but the entire wooden structure still did not collapse, the main beam and column joints are not disjointed.

It just kept getting bigger, this one went straight up to magnitude 9.5, the strongest earthquake ever recorded, but the results were the same. Reluctant foreign experts set the maximum magnitude to 10, and 30 seconds later there was silence, with the entire model still standing on the seismic table intact.

The foreign experts were convinced, but they wondered how such a flimsy wooden frame, without a single screw in it, could withstand a magnitude 10 earthquake. Chinese experts came forward and pointed out the red marks under the columns of the model of the Forbidden City to foreign experts. It turns out that the whole building has moved a few centimeters since before the earthquake.

The Forbidden City has no foundation?
Architects around the world are wondering why ancient Chinese buildings are so earthquake-resistant. In fact, Chinese architects do not agree with the term "earthquake-resistant", preferring to believe that ancient buildings absorb and absorb the impact of earthquakes by relying on their unique structure, rather like the Taoist Taijiquan style. So how does that work?
Let's start by looking at how modern architecture builds houses. To build a house, modern people must first lay the foundation, insert the pillars into the foundation, then build the load-bearing wall, and finally seal the roof. One shortcoming of such a house is that it is too "rigid". As the ancients said, "it is easy to break when it is too rigid".

The columns of modern buildings are always stuck in the ground, which seem very stable and can withstand many earthquakes. In fact, more than 95% of the buildings collapse from the top down when a big earthquake occurs. Your columns may be able to withstand an earthquake, but when the upper building starts to sway from side to side, the rigid columns snap, causing the entire building to collapse.

The biggest difference in ancient buildings is that the columns are not directly inserted into the ground, its structure is more complex. Take the Hall of Supreme Harmony, here in the Imperial Palace, with columns here come pillars, a disk-like structure from the ground; Underneath the column lies another set of stone blocks.
The column appears as though it is inserted into the ground, but it moves within the sangpier without breaking.

A lot of people might say, isn't this house like a building block on the ground, without a foundation? In the past, some people did say that the Forbidden City was built without foundations, and even doubted that ancient Chinese did not understand architecture. But have you ever wondered how a group of houses without foundations has withstood countless earthquakes for more than 600 years?

Therefore, the Palace Museum has a foundation, not only there, and the ancients attach great importance to the construction of the foundation. In the classic architectural work "Building a French style", there are detailed records of where to build the foundation, how long and how wide to build the foundation, and even, where to use stone bricks, where to use wood, what action to use, and how many squares of earth to add are written in great detail. It can be said that the foundation of the Palace Museum, the complex structure, the exquisite materials, that are unique.

The foundation structure of the Forbidden City
Mortise and tenon are the soul of ancient architecture
Of course, this foundation is really not difficult to build, the most difficult is to repair the roof, and when it comes to the roof of ancient buildings, it can not leave the mortise and tenon structure, and it is the soul of ancient buildings.
Mortise and tenon structures are composed of mortise and mortise, which can be nested and fixed to increase the stability of the building. A single window alone has 500-1000 mortise and tenon joints. It is estimated that the roof of a large building cannot be solved without tens of thousands of small parts.

Mortise and tenon joint
So why did ancient people build houses so complicated? Can't it go straight like modern steel and cement? Not really, let's look at the mortise and tenon structure to understand.
When the roof built by tens of thousands of mortise and tenon joints meets the earthquake, each part has the function of absorbing the earthquake impact force, and then continuously transmits this force down, which plays the role of unloading force in the process of transmission. Therefore, we can see that during the earthquake, even though the columns have been shaking very badly, but the roof still does not move.

At the same time, because there is a very small gap when the mortise and tenon structure is inlaid, it is not rigid like a piece of reinforced concrete, but has certain flexibility and elasticity, allowing the material to produce certain deformation, so it is not easy to break down.
The amazing mortise and tenon structures were discovered by a Chinese team in the Hemudu cultural site in Zhejiang province in 1973, and they are 7,000 years old. In fact, the mortise and tenon structure is not the most unique invention of ancient Chinese architecture. Similar mortise and tenon structures were also found in the archaeology of the original ruins in Germany, which also originated 7,000 years ago. Therefore, China may not be the originator of mortise and tenon structures.

Ancient architecture and core technology -- dougong
However, it is worth noting that in the Warring States Period, the mortise and tenon structure was further developed, derived from the dougong structure, which can truly be regarded as the essence of ancient Chinese architecture. Not only is the dougong structure not found in any other civilization in the world, but it also makes ancient Chinese architecture more practical and beautiful.

Dougong is mainly used at the intersection of building columns, beams and roofs to enhance the stability of buildings. From the Warring States period to the Tang Dynasty and later to the Ming and Qing dynasties, ancient architects intensified the role of dougong, but the Japanese lost the spirit of dougong when they copied tang architecture, so many people find Japanese architecture awkward.

In fact, the structure of dougong was not only used to build houses, but also played a crucial role in the construction of Bridges.
In January 1975, a shipment of 429 tons of mechanical components needed to be transported to the Yanshan Petrochemical Company was so heavy that experts could not guarantee that the new Bridges over the Yongding River would be able to complete the task.
Experts said it seemed that the task would have to be left to the ancient bridge, which would be fine without reinforcement.

This is an ancient bridge built 800 years ago. Is it really more reliable than the new bridge built at that time?
When the 429 tons of equipment was lifted onto the bridge, everyone was nervous as the arch of the bridge was sinking -- a maximum of 0.52 mm -- and watched the ancient bridge sink into the river with the equipment. Who knows 20 minutes later, the equipment passed safely, the ancient bridge safe and sound. It turns out that the main reason why the arch bridge sinks is that the dougong of the bridge has a certain toughness. Despite the slight deformation, it did not collapse. And this wonderful ancient bridge is the famous Marco Polo Bridge.

Marco Polo bridge
The inheritance of ancient buildings
Looking back today, we can still feel the unique wisdom of Taoism from the classical architecture of "hardness and softness". However, modern people who have mastered numerous high technology can hardly reproduce the ancient architecture any more. Perhaps in the "science and technology" of the ancients, there are some mysteries hidden in modern physics and mathematics that are difficult to solve. And we've only scratched the surface of what we've learned from ancient architecture.

Tengwang pavilion
Sometimes modern people not only struggle to replicate classical buildings, they even destroy them. In Yingxian County, Shanxi Province, there is a wooden pagoda which has been certified by Guinness World Records as the tallest in the world. It is Sakya Pagoda, also known as Yingxian Wooden Pagoda. It was built in 1056, together with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, known as "the world's three major Chitta".

Tower during
This ancient wooden pagoda has survived nearly a thousand years of wind and sun and more than 10 major earthquakes, but it still stands. However, in the chaos of war in 1926, it was attacked by feng Yuxiang's army, shot more than 200 times but did not collapse. The amazing thing is: even in wartime, when a shell hit the tower and caught fire, it would go out in a flash... (From Xinmin Evening News)
Although so, but the recent situation of the wooden tower is not optimistic, it is said that the Leaning Tower of Pisa only 3.99 degrees, and yingxian wooden tower of the second floor has been tilted 15 degrees, shocking!

Today, we can use machines to produce tenon and mortise parts continuously, but we can no longer build buildings like yingxian wooden pagoda.